


when the ice burns

by days4daisy



Category: Tenet (2020)
Genre: Fever, Hurt/Comfort, Inverted Hypothermia, M/M, ToT: Treat - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:34:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27036529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/days4daisy/pseuds/days4daisy
Summary: “I’ll hold you to it then. If I die from inverted frost-burn, I get to haunt you for the rest of time.”He chuckles. “And if you don’t die? What do I get?”Neil’s tongue dips out to wet his chapped lips. “Bet you’ll think of something,” he says.
Relationships: Neil/The Protagonist (Tenet)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 70
Collections: Trick or Treat Exchange 2020





	when the ice burns

**Author's Note:**

  * For [spock](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spock/gifts).



Neil’s temperature comes down.

They move him from the ice bath to a cot too small for him with a bottle of water and a cold compress on his forehead. With the worst over, the others find ways to occupy themselves. Debriefing on the mission. Needling together threads of information. Crafting their next move. He stays with Neil, planted in an uncomfortable plastic chair.

For one of the few times since he met Neil, in this stream or the one before, Neil isn’t in much shape for talking. He passes the time by exchanging glances between the wall and Neil’s face. The latter is far more engaging.

The compress weeps cold drops down Neil’s face, but Neil doesn't voice any discomfort. His eyes are closed, a tremor in his lashes every time a breath flares out of him.

Neil’s cheeks are deep pockets of red, a flush that spreads down his neck and disappears under the open “v” of his shirt. What skin he can see is still dotted wet from the ice bath. Neil’s breaths wheeze out. Doesn't matter that they jammed an IV in the second they yanked Neil’s burning body from the turnstile.

“It was...cold,” Neil rasps. His mouth barely moves.

“Inversion,” he replies.

Neil’s smile is more of a grimace, but it’s an admirable attempt. “Ah. Right. I should know that. I do know it. But-”

“They didn’t teach this in your textbooks,” he says. “You’re allowed to not know.”

Idly, he flips the compress on Neil’s forehead so the cooler side lies against his skin. Neil groans his thanks. “There was,” he swallows, “this lake. Frozen over. We exchanged fire. I thought catching a bullet would be my biggest problem. Never expected-”

“This job has a way of teaching you to expect the unexpected,” he says.

Neil looks young. Neil looked young when they first met too, in his past and Neil's future. But Neil's face lacks wisdom now, something comfortably worn in. He always thought Neil knew more than he let on, that Neil was way too perceptive for a guy on a need-to-know basis.

Turned out, Neil _did_ know more than he let on. Neil knew him. Knew them.

This Neil almost froze to death, or burned alive, on a stupid mistake. Different as can be, but not different at all really.

The hair hanging limp over Neil's damp forehead is a temptation. He lets himself ruffle it.

Neil’s mouth gives a tired twitch. “You’re not allowed to do that while I’m on my deathbed.”

“You’re not dying,” he says.

“You’re so sure of that, are you?” Neil sighs. A droplet from the compress slides down his cheek. “I bet you are,” he says. “You know everything before it happens.”

He replies, “Not everything,” and sweeps the bead from Neil's skin with a thumb.

A beautiful friendship. Washer on a red string. Neil knew plenty before he ever got the chance.

“Mm.” Neil cracks his eyes open. They look glassy in the low light, a hazy pre-rain blue. “I’ll hold you to it then. If I die from inverted frost-burn, I get to haunt you for the rest of time.”

He chuckles. “And if you don’t die? What do I get?”

Neil’s tongue dips out to wet his chapped lips. “Bet you’ll think of something,” he says.

He bets he will too, even though it hasn’t happened yet.

A beautiful friendship, sure. Even at the end, or the beginning, Neil had a sense of humor.


End file.
